Court slaps another fine on Kejriwal in second defamation case filed by Arun Jaitley

Just as Aam Aadmi Chief (AAP) and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was getting back to his feet after his party’s candidate won the Bawana bypoll in Delhi, the Delhi High Court has imposed another fine of Rs 5000 on him. This fine has been imposed as cost on Arvind Kejriwal for delay in responding to a new Rs 10 crore defamation suit filed by Union Minister Arun Jaitley. The defamation suit points to the objectionable word that was used by Kejriwal’s former lawyer. It may be recalled that Kejriwal was fined Rs 10,000 earlier for failure to respond to another defamation case filed by Jaitley. Joint Registrar Pankaj Gupta today directed Kejriwal to deposit Rs 5,000 in the ‘Army Welfare Fund Battle Casualties.’

The Delhi High Court imposed the fine after Jaitley’s counsel Manik Dogra pointed out that the written reply provided by Kejriwal was submitted after the deadline provided by the court. Dogra also said that such delays were being purposefully done to extend the case. Kejriwal’s counsel advocate Rishikesh Kumar requested the court to forgive the delay, as it was due to technical issues. The court accepted part of the argument and asked Kejriwal to deposit Rs 5,000 as cost. The case will come up for hearing again on October 12. Earlier, Kejriwal had said through his counsel that the defamation suit should be dismissed since it is based on lies.